In my work I am used to hearing about horrible things that human beings can do — stuff we cannot even write here. But the repulsive story I came across this week must be proclaimed from the rooftops.

A mother in our church had the misfortune to find out that her 12-year-old daughter is pregnant. The father is a 30-year-old man whom her daughter met on Facebook. In other words, a pedophile. Too sad. Sickening.

While this mother now has to pick up the pieces and deal with the situation the best she can, and the authorities hunt down this monster, this warning is fit to all parents and carers of underage kids:

Do you know what your son or daughter has been up to on the Internet?

Nowadays it is too easy for a child or teen to access the Internet. I sometimes watch in stupefaction how some parents let their children roam free with phones, iPods, computers, etc. without adult supervision. “But if I don’t let my son get on the Internet, he gets angry…” they say. “All my daughter’s friends have a cell phone… if I don’t give her one, she will feel bad…”

Parents:

We are responsible to protect our children from evil in the world. Of course we can’t protect them from everything. It’s impossible. But we must do what we can. Only a few days ago I had to take my teenage son’s cell phone away from him for inappropriate use. Ask him if he liked what I did. Then ask me if I care what he thinks.

One of the major responsibilities parents have is to set limits, especially as children and teenagers have no sense of it. So I ask you again:

Do you know what your son or daughter has been up to on the Internet?

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Read this article in Portuguese…